Daily Digest

Upgrades, New Manager Come to Celtic Crossing

Celtic Crossing Irish Pub and Restaurant has made a new hire, added menu items and made exterior improvements.

Christopher Darling has been named manager of the Midtown bar. Prior to joining Celtic full-time, Darling worked as general manager of Jim’s Place Restaurant and Bar.

The wine menu has been re-worked, scrapping the original 16 wines for a selection of 20 wines that will rotate seasonally.

Celtic has also added chicken salad to the menu, based on a family recipe that comes from Will Renick, Celtic’s head chef.

In June, Celtic added three tables to the patio and installed a mosquito misting system. The system sprays repellant every morning and evening to ward off mosquitoes.

– Madeline Faber

Purkey New Tennessee Safety Commissioner

David Purkey, the assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, will lead the department effective Sept. 1.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Purkey’s appointment Friday, July 29. Purkey will succeed Bill Gibbons of Memphis, who was one of the first appointments Haslam made upon taking office in January 2011.

Purkey has been a homeland security adviser as well as assistant commissioner to Gibbons since 2011. He was director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency from 2014-2016 and he is a former Tennessee Highway Patrol officer, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent, 9-1-1 dispatcher and mayor of Hamblen County, Tenn., for four terms.

– Bill Dries

First Tennessee Renovating Memphis HQ Building

Linkous Construction recently filed four separate building permits totaling $3.9 million in construction. The permits list renovations for the 6th floor, 7th floor, 11th floor and 13th floor. First Horizon is listed as the owner and tenant in the permits.

First Tennessee currently leases the first 15 floors and the 23rd floor. Law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz is the next largest tenant in the building.

– Madeline Faber

Chair-Back Seats Available At Liberty Bowl Stadium

Select season tickets in the newly installed chair-back sections of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium are now available, the University of Memphis Athletic Department has announced.

As a part of the planned renovations to the football stadium this off-season, approximately 5,000 premium chair-back seats are now being installed and will be available for the home opener on Sept. 3. These new chair-backs include cup holders and arm rests, plus up to seven additional inches in width compared to the bench seats that are being replaced.

The new chair-back seating is being installed in the lower portions of sections 117-123 on the east side of the stadium and sections 109-131 on the west side.

Season ticket prices for these new seats are $250 each, plus a per-seat donation between $25 and $150, depending on proximity to the 50-yard line. Fans interested in moving into these new seats may call the athletic ticket office at 901-678-2331, or tickets may be purchased online at www.GoTigersGoTix.com. Season tickets in other sections of the stadium range from $100 to $210.

The Tigers seven-game home season starts on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. against Southeast Missouri State.

– Don Wade

Tigers’ Jake McDowell Gets Scholarship This Season

University of Memphis men’s basketball head coach Tubby Smith has announced that former walk-on Jake McDowell, a Christian Brothers High School graduate, has earned a scholarship for the 2016-17 season. McDowell played three seasons under former coach Josh Pastner.

“We are proud that he has taken the opportunity to earn this scholarship,” said Smith, in his first season as coach at Memphis. “He and his family have given so much to this program through hard work and dedication. Jake has done everything we have asked, and I am looking forward to coaching him this coming season.”

Jake’s father, Hank McDowell, was a Tiger from 1977-1981 and now serves as a radio analyst for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Jake McDowell played in 24 games for the Tigers last season, earning one start. He scored 14 points and pulled down nine rebounds during the season, hitting half of his 12 shots from the field. Over his career, he has appeared in 44 games.

– Don Wade

Barnes Re-Elected as TPA Vice President

Memphis Daily News publisher Eric Barnes is beginning his second term as vice president for daily newspapers for the Tennessee Press Association.

He’s in line for the presidency and expected to have his term as president in 2017-18.

Barnes was re-elected during the TPA Business Session at its annual summer convention last week in Franklin. W.R. “Ron” Fryar, owner and publisher of the Cannon Courier of Woodbury, is the association’s new president.

TPA is the trade association of the state’s daily and non-daily newspapers. It’s made up of 26 daily newspapers and 96 non-daily newspapers.